Spiderwebs
by ButterflyMiko
Summary: Peter has a best friend named Kurisuta Hikawa. She is always at his side. As he becomes SpiderMan, he realizes that he can use his new powers to save her from the darkness within her soul.
1. Transformation

"Peter! Hey Peter!" Kuri ran to her friend's side. "You excited for the field trip? Reiko's been talking about it for days!"

"Reiko always gets excited about science stuff. She's always been the brains of the family." Peter teased.

"What does that make me?" Kuri snapped.

"You my friend, are the looks." Peter grinned as she took a swipe at him.

They were standing outside the science museum, and Peter had his camera around his neck.

Kuri was a Japanese American, with caramel skin and bright blue eyes, along with long ebony hair. Her sister Reiko looked nothing like her, with pale skin and freckles, bright curly red hair in a ponytail, and bright green eyes.

"Hey guys did you hear? I got the job at Oscorp!" Reiko announced.

"No way really?" Peter said. "You're going to work for Harry's dad's company."

"Well it's all thanks to Harry." Reiko said.

Harry, approaching, blushed. "Not really. You wowed my dad with all your corporate knowledge. I think he wants me to marry you."

It was Reiko's turn to blush. "Please please. I'm much too young for all that."

"No your not." Kuri muttered under her breath earning a glare from Rei where it almost seemed like her eyes were gold.

The teacher called and the four of them headed into the museum. First exhibit: Spiders.

Kuri hung on the presenters every word, and didn't notice when Peter grabbed her arm. He had to pinch her.

"Ow! Come on now, they're so cool!" Kuri said. "If I was a spider I'd be that one." She pointed at an image on the screen. "Wait where is the little guy? I wanted to say hi!"

The presenter looked up from her iPad. "Um...that one must be in for examination today. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, miss."

Kuri looked a little dejected, but Peter pinched her again.

"Peter!" Kuri yelled. "Ow!"

"Hey you know I need good pictures for the paper. And those guys keep messing me up. Think you can help me out?" Peter said.

"Sure!" Kuri grinned, walking over to the bullies. Without a word, they all suddenly had vacant expressions, like they were thinking really hard about a math problem.

Peter didn't know how she did it, but Kuri could put the emotional lock down on anyone. When he asked her about it she said it was a "priestess thing." Kuri and her sister Reiko were priestess in Chinatown at a place called Hikawa Shrine.

Peter sighed and took his pictures, then grabbed Kuri. "Cmon I'm getting you too."

"No frickin way, Peter. You know I'm camera shy." Kuri said.

"Then you two together." Harry said. "Me and Reiko will take the picture."

"Yeah!" Rei said.

Peter reluctantly handed his camera over, and the two got in the picture together. Just as the camera flashed, Peter was bit by the missing spider. He winced, but smiled for the picture.

"Everything alright Peter?" Kuri said, concerned.

"Yes..." Peter said, unsure.

Later that night, Peter developed the picture personally and kept a copy. It was the first picture of the two of them together in ages. He put it up on his mirror where he could see it every day and then went to his window.

The light in Kuri's window was flashing in binary. "G-o-o-d-n-i-g-h-t P-e-t-e-r"

Peter flashed his light in binary back. "G-o-o-d-n-i-g-h-t K-u-r-i"

Peter sighed, looking at his bite, and gasped and fainted.


	2. Graduation

Standing in the middle of a caved in bank was a woman. She had long dark hair too her feet, caramel skin, dark fathomless eyes, and a star on her forehead. She wore a long ebony dress decorated with stars.

As the police appeared, she spun and the dress became a one piece suit. The woman held up a hand and crushed the necks of the officers, leaving them gasping on the floor.

"She won't let me kill you." The woman sighed. "My name is Sadako. If you remember anything while you choke on your lungs, remember that."

Xxx

Kuri woke with her hands clenched at her sides. What a terrible nightmare!

Oh man she was late for the bus! Kuri got her stuff and headed for the door. Today was graduation.

She grinned at Peter next to her but he seemed preoccupied.

"Hey cmon, this is supposed to be the best day of our lives. What's got you so serious?" Kuri asked.

"No kidding he's been grumpy all morning." Reiko said, already in her gown with Harry. "Today's my first day at Oscorp. Mr Osborne is taking me there after graduation."

"Yeah Dad sure does love you." Harry said laughing.

"Oh yeah! It's my first day at the new job too." Kuri said.

"You have a new job Kuri?" Peter asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm like a police psychic." Kuri laughed. "That's what they're calling it, though I prefer consultant. I've already helped out in some missing persons and murder cases, so they want me on full-time. As long as it doesn't get in the way of my writing career."

"What writing career?" Reiko laughed.

"Oh come on you know. I wanna be a novelist. But I did see an ad in the paper; they're looking for an advice columnist...that could be fun." Kuri said.

"Hey that's right up your alley! You understand emotions better than anybody!" Peter gushed.

"Aw...thanks." Kuri said. "I think I'll do it."

The four of them graduated together, and had dinner together at the Olive Pit.


	3. Miko

Kuri was on her first job with the police. She had had a vision that a man would be shot in front of the wrestling dome and she knew who it was: Peter's Uncle Ben.

Kuri sighed and realized she couldn't let Peter or anyone know about her true power. To that end, she had convinced the police to allow her to wear a strange get up. She wore a hakama, red traditional Japanese pants that came to her knees and white kimono dress top. She wore a Mardi Gras mask and a gold Pentacle necklace.

She knelt in front of Uncle Ben's body.

"Ashes to Ashes. Spirit to Spirit. I release you to the afterlife. Blessed Be." Miko said in Japanese.

Unseen to onlookers, his soul left his body and flew up and away. Miko paused. Peter was standing in front of her, fury on his face.

"What have you done to him?!" He demanded.

"It was a carjacking. He was shot." Miko said. "I was preforming last rites."

A struggle on his face, then belief registered. He turned as he heard the cops talk about where the carjacker was, and he was gone.

Miko sighed. Meddling with destiny was never something she made a practice. But she could not let Peter start on this path toward heroism, with a vengeful murder.

She shimmered and appeared in the shadows of the warehouse.

"DID YOU GIVE HIM A CHANCE!" Peter shouted.

The light revealed that the carjacker was the one he had let go before. In sheer accident, Peter knocked him out the window.

Miko was on him in an instant. "Catch him! Be the Hero you promised your Uncle Ben you would be!"

Peter shot out a web and caught the thief then put him down in front of the police. He then whirled on her.

"Who are you? How do you know all of this about me? What do you want?!" Peter demanded.

Miko smiled. "You know who I am."

"What?" Peter was confused.

"I'm Miko!" Miko shimmered and vanished.

Peter shot a web out to catch her, but only caught air.

Peter looked down at the police watching him from below. Surprised, he saw Kuri, in her plain clothes, talking to an officer. After a moment she turned and met his eyes.

Why was she crying? What had she seen


	4. Photos

Somebody get me a decent shot of that vigilante!" Jameson said.

"I know someone who can do it," Kuri said.

"I don't wanna hear from you, you're just a ghost writer for our advice column." Jameson said.

"You should listen to her sir." Robbie said. "The Ask Annie column was dead before she started, and now she gets a million letters a week. People eat up her advice. Plus she works for the NYPD, so she probably knows where Spider-Man hangs out."

Kuri giggled. "Hangs out."

"Well then girl, who can get me a picture?" Jameson said.

"I'll bring him tomorrow. Give him a job." Kuri said.

Xxx

"Cmon Peter you need a job!" Kuri said pulling him in.

"Are you sure this is a good place?" Peter said.

"Yeah I do a lot of ghost writing here." Kuri said.

"I didn't know you had a second job." Peter said, concerned.

"Well yeah. The police job is what Grams wants. This what I want." Kuri said. "Mr Jameson! This is your photographer! He can get shots of Spider-Man!"

"What?!" Peter said.

"You better pay him $500 per, got that? Or we BOTH walk!" Kuri demanded.

"Cmon Kuri you can't quit! Your my best writer...dammit alright kid. You got a job—freelance." Jameson conceded.

Kuri grinned.


	5. Rescue

Kuri was heading home from her job at the NYPD when she was surrounded by a group of men. They pulled her shirt, ripping it, and yanked at her skirt. One of them pinned her too the wall, and his dirty lips were pressed against hers when he was pulled away against the wall.

All of them were pulled, then yanked into a bundle, and beaten up by SpiderMan.

"We do not hit women!" Spider-Man said.

The Thugs roared in anger and lunged across the street toward him.

"We hit the men who hit women." Spider-Man said.

He dropped into the middle and threw each of them against the walls. They got to their feet and ran away.

The Thugs all scattered, Spider-Man stood there, chest heaving. He looked around for Kuri. She was gone. Why didn't she wait to watch him be a hero? He was crushed.

Miko shimmered into view, a pout on her face. "Aw, you didn't leave any for me."

"I'm not in the mood for you right now." Spider-Man replied to her, annoyed.

"Trying to impress your girl?" Miko said, eyes shimmering silver, a tell-tale sign she had been using her powers to spy on him.

"Why did she leave? Did I scare her?" Spider-Man was upset.

Miko shrugged. "Nah. She was probably just embarrassed that she had to be rescued. Ladies these days, we wanna be tough."

"She...wants to be tough?" Spider-Man said skeptically.

"Don't underestimate this 'Kuri' girl. You go on and on about her. If the great Spider-Man is in love with her, Kuri must be able to hold her own in a fight. Mark my words." Miko grinned, and vanished again, just like always.


	6. Not Quite Superman

Kuri handed Peter a box of his possessions. "You'll do great living with Harry."

"You really think I can do this...moving out?" Peter said.

"I've known you for years Peter. You're awesome." Kuri kissed his cheek.

Peter blushed and went downstairs.

"Are you sure about this, Peter?" Aunt May said. "College, a job, your own place...You're not Superman, you know."

Peter and Kuri laughed together.

**Xxx**

A cop was beating a teenager with his nightstick hard. His partner watched and smoked a cigarette.

Two web strands flew out and grabbed the nightstick and yanked it out of his hand.

The Cop whirled around. Spider-Man clung to the side of a building behind him, upside down.

"Stop it I'm a cop!" Cop said.

Webbing hit his mouth.

"In the world of good cop, bad cop, you are definitely a bad cop." Spider-Man said.

The Cop fumbled for his gun, Spider-Man turned, crawled up the building. The Cop fired, two shots that chinked off the brick where Spider-Man was, but he was already swinging off into the darkness.

In the moment of distraction, the Teenager got to his feet and started to run.

He was caught by Miko.

"Now now dear. Let's see to those injuries." Miko leaned in and kissed the teen's cheek. A spiraling glow of silver light surrounded him and his bruises and bumps were healed by her sacred energy.

**Xxx**

The Daily Bugle showed a front page picture of the angry Cop, next to the headline: "SPIDER-MAN AND MIKO HELP CROOK ESCAPE!"

Jonah Jameson lowered the paper, saw Robbie glaring at him.

"You know that isn't true." Robbie said.

"That's why we put quotes around it!" Jameson said.

Other staffers glowered at him. They didn't like it either.

"If you all love him so much, GET ME A PICTURE!" Jameson said.

**Xxx**

Kuri helped Peter move into his apartment. Harry and Reiko were fixing up his room, and Kuri looked over and smiled as she caught them making eyes at each other.

"Look there." Kuri said to Peter.

"You think they're..." Peter said.

"Sure enough." Kuri laughed.

Peter looked at her and chuckled.

Kuri put a camera on the table and fiddled with it. "There we go. Now it'll be perfect for your new job."

"Thanks to you." Peter said.

"Don't mention it." Kuri stuck her tongue out.

Xxx

Up on a rooftop, a web strand shoots into the corner of a building cornice, holding the camera in place.

A red and blue webbed glove reaches into the frame and selected a shutter setting.

Through the viewfinder, a camera's eye view of the rooftop, looking slightly down over the city. The word "automatic" flashed in red in the corner of the frame.

Suddenly Spider-Man came swinging into frame, and Miko shimmered into view, right toward the camera, dangling dramatically from a web strand. The shutter clicked.

"You owe me one." Miko said disdainfully, shimmering away.

Xxx

The resultant photograph was an action shot of Spider-Man and Miko. A hand flipped past it, to another, and another- all good shots, swinging shots, flying shots, web-shooting shots.

Jonah Jameson looked up, trying to hide his enthusiasm. Peter stood across his desk.

"Good shots right?" Kuri grinned at Peter.

"They sure are." Peter grinned

"Where'd you get these?" Jameson said.

"If I tell you that, you'll send your own photographer next time. This is my job." Peter said.

"No jobs! Free lance, Perky, best thing in the world for a man your age, don't get tied down! I'll give you a hundred bucks for the lot." Jameson said.

He turned and left his office. Peter followed.

"A thousand or we walk!" Kuri demanded.

Peter looked at her gratefully.

"Dammit Kuri! Fine, Fine. You win. Hoffman. HOFFMAN!" Jameson said.

Hoffman, a tired guy, looked up from his cubicle.

"Cut a check to Peter Porker for a thousands dollars, less taxes-" Jameson said.

Peter turned to Hoffman. "It's Parker, P-A-R-"

"-social security, and voluntary contribution to that charity my wife likes." Jameson said.

"Sir, if you could just put me on the payroll, see, I really need the insurance I'd get with a full-time job, my aunt has this condition she-" Peter said.

"Insurance?! What are you, a photographer or a claims adjuster?! What happened to hard drinking and Australian bush hats and lying to foreign women? Stick around, Kid, I'll make a journalist out of you, hell, HOFFMAN!, remind me to send him some Christmas meat, NOW GET ME MORE PICTURES!" Jameson said.

The Daily Bugle displayed one of Peter's dramatic shots of Spider-Man and Miko, over the

headline: SPIDER-MAN AND MIKO: HERO OR MENACE?! exclusive photos!

**Xxx**

Three police cars screeched around a corner and squealed to a stop outside a jewelry store in the diamond district. An alarm bell rang, the front window of the store was smashed-and three thieves were suspended above the doorway, trapped, squirming in a web-net that dangled from a lamppost.

The first cops leapt out along with Kuri and stood underneath, staring up in amazement. As they entered the scene, the window repaired itself and the money flew from the thieves pockets back into the registers.

The image was in the The Daily Bugle, Next to the headline: WHO RUNS THIS TOWN?! Cops Powerless Against Spider-Man and Miko

**Xxx**

Robbie looked at Jonah. "How come you hate him so much?"

"Because he's a vigilante! Thinks he's above the law! What if he turns against us someday?! It's just a matter of time! Look at him! Look at those eyes!" Jameson said.

They looked up at a picture of Spider-Man and Miko, a grainy blow up of their faces, his wicked white jack o'lantern eyes staring straight out at them, and her Mardi Gras mask mocking them.

"Is there a man alive who could give those lunatics a fight?" Jameson said


	7. Green Goblin

**Town Car**

Norman Osborn was in the back of his Town Car, consuming the Wall Street Journal as the car crawled through busy midtown traffic. Rain pounded on the tinted windows, it's one hell of a day out there.

His eyes turned, fix coldly on whoever was in the seat next to Norman. It was his new assistant, Reiko, dressed in a purple cheongsam top and black slik pants. Reiko was drumming her fingers nervously on her knee.

Norman's jaw fixed in a tight line. He folded his paper and stared at Reiko.

"Are you going to disappoint me?" Norman said.

Reiko turned, dared to raise her eyes to her boss. Her mouth moves, she was going to try to answer, but decided against it.

Suddenly, both rear doors flew open, pulled smartly by security men in suits, and Norman bolted sharply out of the car. Harry followed, dreading whatever was to come.

Very high above them, there was a cold black monolithic skyscraper that stood in the middle of Manhattan. Tall, searing red letters atop the building announced its resident- OSCORP.

Far, far down in the street, Reiko and Norman walked from the car, parked at the curb, to the front of the building, immediately covered by a sea of umbrellas carried by minions raced out to

meet them.

Down on the sidewalk, Norman turned and barked at Reiko over his shoulder as they headed for the building.

"Walk beside me, not behind." Norman said.

Reiko stepped up her pace to fall in beside her boss. They reached an elevator, one of the two glass ones that cling to the side of the building. The twin elevators were guarded by two more security guys, wires in their ears and sunglasses in the rain.

One set of doors wooshed open as Reiko and Norman approached; they stepped inside.

In the elevator, The doors closed. Reiko turned to her boss.

"Please don't make me do this." Reiko said.

"You wanted to learn. You'll learn." Norman said.

"I'm begging you." Reiko said.

Impatient, Norman reached past him and pushed one of only two silver buttons on the panel next to the door.

"Don't. I just ate." Norman said.

Inside the elevator, a motor started to hum and-on the sidewalk-the elevator moved. But instead of going up, the elevator zipped downward, into and through the sidewalk.

Norman and Reiko's faces were visible through the glass as they descended into the bowels of the building.

In the building, Large red and white horizontal stripes whipped past as the elevator dropped far into the ground beneath the streets of Manhattan.

"I abhor weakness. I don't permit it in myself; I won't tolerate it in you. Running a company is a lot more than handing out paychecks." Norman said.

Suddenly, the elevator stopped and the doors zipped open on a lab.

**Lab**

There was a massive underground laboratory. Row after row of test tubes, beakers, piles of microcircuitry, half-assembled devices, scribbled formulas, schematics, warning signs. The sheer volume of thought that goes on here was humbling.

A lab worker noticed Norman. He turned and hurried across the floor in the opposite direction, urgently. He passed a thing that looked like an aerodynamically perfected boogie board, with upturned fins on each side, footholds carved into the top of each wing, and a single row of switches down the middle of the center tube, which was a propulsion system of some kind.

While the device hovered over a bench, a technician wore a lightweight, super tight-fitting helmet, eyes protected behind big yellowish-green plastic bulges that made it look like an evil

insect's head. As the Technician turned his head, the device responded, pointing up when he raises his head up, banking to the side with a turn of the head, etc.

The Lab Worker went across the lab. He approached a raised platform, where a man in a long white lab coat worked in front of a large glassed-in room. His arms were plugged into a device of some kind, working delicately with a maze of interlocking chemical tubes and micronic circuitry sealed in a glass-walled isolation tank. Strange gases leaked from the tubes, must be the reason they're behind glass.

The Lab Worker hurried up beside him and whispered in his ear.

"Human Performance Enhancers." Reiko said.

Both men seemed surprised.

"I've been working on the project with him." Reiko said.

"How's it going?" Norman said.

"Nearly there. We tried vapor inhalation with rodent subjects they showed an 800 percent increase in strength. Intellectual capacity increased beyond measurable limits of testing, and maze-solving ability became nearly instantaneous." Reiko said.

"Excellent. Side-effects?" Norman said.

Reiko shrugged. "Propensity toward violence, central nervous system breakdown, domination

obsession, decompensation, insanity, death."

"So they become stronger and smarter. But it kills them. Not exactly marketable yet. The other projects?" Norman said.

"All good, individual airborne transports are all tested, they look fine, hallucination orbs are good to go. Manufacture can start in a month, we can deliver to the government by the end of the year. You're going to make another fortune, Norman." Reiko said.

"That's what I'd hoped to hear." Norman said.

"If that's all..." Reiko said.

Osborn acidentally crashed into a control panel against the far wall, rows and rows of switches and levers that were knocked all out of whack. A low hum permeated the lab. The monitors of an adjacent bank of computers flashed formulas and data.

On a workbench, heat spun around the edges of a blue coil and began to warm a gravy-brown liquid. All around the lab, liquids and vapors awakened, crept through a nest of tubes.

Norman struggled to his feet.

Meanwhile, all around him, the liquids and gases started to move faster. To bubble. To his. Tubes swirl with strange gases. Smoke and vapor were leaking out of the connections, the entire system was groaning, something was terribly wrong.

A shrill alarm began to sound. Anyone who was left in the lab, including the Security Guards, turns and raced for the doors, desperate to get the hell out of there.

All over the lab, glass tubes cracked like ice in the springtime. With a great strange sucking sound, the entire works imploded, tubes and gases and liquids and vapors all collapsing inward on each other. There was a moment of horrible silence.

KA-BOOM!

Now it exploded, and everything flew everywhere. Norman, was hurled to the wall and slumped to the floor, unconscious.

The entire glass wall Reiko was standing behind was blown ten feet across the room, and Reiko disappeared under it.

In (what was) the isolation tank, a thick, fat green cloud rolls out and oozes down toward the floor. The vapor had a bizarre property, as it moved past a row of storage cabinets, it revealed

what's inside them, as an x-ray would, and when it moved beyond the cabinets, the doors were opaque again.

The vapor oozed over the unconscious form of Norman Osborn, sprawled out on the floor. It enveloped him bit by bit, and as it did his skeletal form was visible, the very bones under his flesh. The top of his cranium, his eye sockets, his mouth and teeth, the skin becoming momentarily transparent.

He was still breathing, little currents of the fantastic green gas were being sucked up into his nose, rhythmically.

The gas entered his now-visible system, sucking down, through his windpipe, billowing momentarily in his lungs, then gushing out through the cilia as it was distributed into his bloodstream.

Eager, oxygen fed tendrils of the stuff swirl up inside his brain.

In their cages inside the ruined isolation room, chemically enhanced rats screeched and screamed, writhing in the thick gas.

Across the lab, The green gas hovering over Norman Osborn's motionless body finally dissipated, leaving Osborn on the floor, his body no longer transparent.

Suddenly, his eyes popped open. Wide open. His blue eyes had changed color, from their icy azure to a sickly, fluorescent, demonic...green!

Reiko was lying in the middle of the lab under some rubble, somehow unharmed. She struggled to her feet, going first to check on her boss.

Norman grabbed her by the throat and lifted her above his head. "Back to formula?!"

He broke her neck and threw her across the room into the rubble, dead.

Unbeknownst to him, the dead Reiko flickered, then disappeared, an illusion. Kitsune would not be killed so easily.

Xxx

"You awake?" Harry said.

"Mm..." Reiko said in response.

"I found you in that shambles of a lab. I-I'm so sorry. If I hadn't gotten you that job..." Harry said.

"It...It's not your fault." Reiko said, sitting up. "See, I'm not even hurt."

"I've been thinking...I really thought you were dead when I heard about the accident." Harry said. "And I can't really imagine a world without you. So Reiko...will you please go out with me, be my girl?"

Reiko laughed. "It took you long enough to ask Harry. Of course."

Though even in her joy at finally being noticed by her long time crush, Reiko turned over the events of last night in her brain. Norman, at least, saw her die. If he saw her again, he would surely attempt to finish the job.

Reiko was no superhero. In fact just the idea of donning a suit and doing acts of heroism with her powers appalled her. She was a kitsune, a creature who enjoyed playing tricks on humans and hoarding shiny treasures.

She looked at Harry as he helped her gather her things. But when it came to protecting the man she loved, was she willing to become Kitsune?


	8. Lies

Peter was walking down the street heading to his apartment, when he saw Kuri.

"Hey Kuri!" Peter waved.

"Oh hey Peter!" Kuri said.

"So how's work been? I know you've been ghost writing and working for the police." Peter said.

"Yes its hard to balance two jobs, but what are you gonna do? I gotta pay the bill, ya know."

Kuri grinned. "I'm just glad you got your own place. How's it been?"

"Excellent. I'm in college now. You didn't want to go?" Peter asked.

"I never liked school, Peter." Kuri admitted.

Peter knew why. School had never been easy for Kuri, or any of them. But he loved to learn, couldn't imagine life without it.

"Don't worry about me. I'm doing what I always wanted, and keeping Grams happy too." Kuri said. "It's the dream, right?"

"Yeah. The dream." Peter said.

He neglected to mention that no dream of his would be complete without her.


	9. Nightmare

A door opens on a tiny, crappy, unfurnished apartment. Kuri came in, and noticed Rei sitting on the couch.

"That bad huh?" Kuri said.

Reiko had told her about the birth of the Green Goblin.

"How do you keep it a secret?" Reiko asked her. "You know if you just told him he would—"

"What?" Kuri said. "Peter would just be angry at me for keeping it from him for so long! For holding him at arms length and helping only when I am allowed to help."

Kuri and Reiko spoke with the conviction of priestesses, bound by the Wiccan Rede. They could only help when it benefited others; if they were to gain in any way, then fate would cause something awful to happen.

Something awful...like Norman Osborne's transformation.

"If Harry ever finds out what I did—" Reiko started.

"You did nothing!" Kuri said. "Fate did it. You broke the rules; you used magic to get yourself a cushy job, and this...this is the consequence."

"Some dream, right?" Reiko said.

"More like a nightmare." Kuri replied.


	10. Girlfriend

Peter finished unpacking and sat on his bed. "Harry you've gotta let me pay some of the rent."

"No can do. Dad bought this whole apartment for me, so what's the point?" Harry said.

"Right. Your dad." Peter said, sighing.

"Is this really all your stuff?" Harry said. "Not much."

"Don't need much." Peter said.

The doorbell rang. Who could that be?

"Oh here she is!" Harry said, his tone suddenly brighter.

In came Reiko, yanking Kuri by the sleeve. "I made her come too. Three's a crowd and all that."

Reiko ran over and kissed Harry. "It's good to see you, honey."

Peter blinked, processing. Reiko and Harry? She'd loved him forever; what made him finally figure it out? If there was hope for them then maybe...

He looked at Kuri. She looked back.

"Brought you something." Kuri said, and handed him a really nice camera.

Better than one he could afford.

Peter was speechless. It was beautiful, the best he could ask for. But...

"I can't accept this." Peter said, but his hands were literally sticking to the camera. He didn't want to let go.

"You already have." Kuri said. "Go catch that story, Peter."


	11. Weakest Link

A townhouse mansion, forty feet wide at least, just off Park Avenue. A man staggered down the sidewalk, made his way up the steps and into the house.

He drifted toward the front door.

He was still drifting, now through the opulent first floor of the empty mansion. Some light and noise from upstairs, he drifted toward that.

Up a staircase. Down a hall. Up another staircase. There was a light at the top of these stairs.

Into the master suite. Into a closet the size of most New York apartments. Past rows and rows and rows of tailored suits. Past a column of hanging neckties, there must be five hundred of 'em. Toward the open to the master bathroom, all gleaming white tile and polished silver.

Norman Osborn, scraped and singed by the explosion, splashed water on his face, desperately.

He looked up, into the mirror, face dripping. He peered closer, at his face. Something strange was happening. The features weren't solid, they're moving, melting, as if Norman had dropped some extremely heavy acid.

Now, to his horror, his face actually tore in two, ripping right down the middle, and one whole face slithers out of his own, taking up position right next to it.

But this was a hideous face, faintly resembling his own. It was mechanical, grotesque, with a sickening greenish hue. In fact, if it looked like anything, it's that insect-looking helmet back in the lab at OsCorp, the one that was used to control that flying glider.

The second face spoke, with a voice that is like Osborn's, but different, warped, other-than-human. This was the Green Goblin's voice.

"Osborn..." Goblin said.

"Who... who are you?!" Norman said.

"I am the voice you refuse to hear...The dream you're afraid to remember..." Goblin said.

"What do you want?" Norman said.

"To say what you won't... To do what you can't..." Goblin said.

"What do you mean?" Norman said.

"You already know..." Goblin said.

Horrified, Osborn shakes his head from side to side- no, not that- It seems he does know.

"There is a weak link." Goblin said.

"No!" Norman said.

"A threat to the company." Goblin said.

"Don't talk like that!" Norman said.

"One day he will destroy it." Goblin said.

"Don't say these things!" Norman said.

"Lay waste to your grandfather's company..." Goblin said.

"Please..." Norman said.

"Unless he's stopped. Before it's too late." Goblin said.

"That isn't true!" Norman said.

"You believe it is." Goblin said.

"I've never thought that!" Norman said.

"You think that every day." Goblin said.

"But he's- my God, he's-" Norman said.

"Abraham was willing... he had the strength... so too do I." Goblin said.

"What are you going to do?!" Norman said.

The face began to move, sliding grotesquely back into Osborn's own face.

"Protect the company..." Goblin said.

Osborn shrieked, grabbed hold of his head as the Goblin melded back into him- it hurts!

"God, no, no, please-" Norman said.

"Find the weak link." Goblin sad

"HE'S MY SON!" Norman said.

"Break it in two." Goblin said.


	12. Attack

Harry Osborn stared up into the sky, a look of childlike innocence and wonder on his face.

"Isn't it great?" Harry said.

Harry and Reiko were in the middle of the crowd in Columbus Circle on a beautiful early winter morning. Giant balloons floated high in the air as the Thanksgiving Day Parade made its way down Central Park West, bound for Broadway and Times Square.

Harry looked down at the tickets in his hand.

"Come on, our seats are right up front!" Harry said.

He took her hand and leads her toward a reviewing stand, tall bleachers three stories high, set up nearby.

On the reviewing stand, These were the expensive seats. The mayor of New York sat next to a visiting foreign leader, a grim-faced guy. The Mayor made conversation through interpreters.

"Ah! Yes, that one is Snoopy, a sort of devil-may-care dog who flies his doghouse around and pretends to be a World War I pilot." Mayor said.

The Interpreter interpreted, but the Foreign Leader looked baffled.

"World War I? The Great War? War to end all Wars?" Mayor said, then low to his aide. "Did they sit that one out?"

Nearby, Harry and Reiko arrived, and found their seats.

In the street Peter Parker worked his way through the crowd, loaded down with

cameras. He raised his camera, squeezed off a few shots.

Through his lens, Peter searched the crowd and saw Kuri with the police, pointing and commanding, the other cops looking at her in awe. Peter blushed. She was awesome.

On the street, Peter suddenly stopped what he was doing, rubbing the back of his

neck, his Spider-Sense going off. He looked around, didn't see anything.

On the reviewing stand, The Mayor was still doing his best with the Foreign Leader.

"Oh, here comes Garfield, my favorite! Garfield is a wonderful sort of, uh, sarcastic cat." Mayor said.

The Interpreter looked puzzled.

"Sarcastic cat?" Don't you have a word for that?" Mayor said.

The Mayor turned, hearing something. So did the others around him. It was a high-pitched whining sound.

On the street, Peter was really going crazy, certain there is a problem somewhere,

but not sure where it is. He looked up.

In the sky, Something darted in and out of the clouds, something small and

very, very fast.

On the reviewing stand, The Mayor was squinting up into the sky, at the source of the

buzzing.

"I, uh... I'm not familiar with that one, it must be new this year." Mayor said.

He raised a pair of binoculars.

In mid-air, A deranged cackle echoed over the whine of a jet-engine turbine.

On the street, Kuri had noticed it too. She pushed the cops down to duck as the object came down low.

It passed so fast, zigzagging through the floats, that no one could really get a handle on it.

The crowd applauded. Must be part of the act.

On the reviewing stand, The Foreign Leader applauded, smiles for the first time. He liked this bit.

On the street, the cops relaxed, thinking it was part of the show. But Kuri's eyes flashed silver.

"Peter," she whispered, eyes locking with his through the crowd.

Then suddenly, she was gone. Peter sensed trouble. He elbowed his way through the crowd and took off down the street, toward the mouth of an alley.

In mid-air, whatever-it-is curled up into the sky, banked, and hovered right over them, giving a first good look at it. It was the Green Goblin, clad in form-fitting dark green with a decidedly military look to it. That grotesque, skin-tight helmet was pulled over its face,

green mechanical eyes shining brightly through it. The Goblin had both legs astride a small flat flying wing, big enough for one, with footholds on either side of a single jet engine- both helmet and wing are the ones we saw back in the lab.

The Goblin's head twitches, the Glider responded immediately, banking and plummeting—straight down toward the street!

He flew right down into the thick of the crowd, which screamed and scattered, and he slammed toward the cops, stopped by Miko's barrier.

Reaching into an armament pouch (should we call it a Goblin bag?) fitted on the side of the Glider, the Goblin dropped a small orange pumpkin-shaped grenade onto her barrier.

Miko flicked a hand up, and contained the grenade in a barrier, flying it into the air and exploding it to cheers from the crowd.

The Goblin raced on around Columbus Circle at chest level, people screaming and leaping out of his way as he cackled maniacally, dropping pumpkin bombs left and right.

Miko quickly created a barrier over the civilians, and shuddered as her power was fading. She looked up at the sky—it was a New Moon.

Green Goblin reached the end of the street and rocketed straight up into the sky, disappearing into the clouds.

In an alley, Peter finishes surreptitiously webbing a camera into place on a second floor balcony, pointed at the reviewing stand. He set the shutter on automatic and started to unbutton his shirt, revealing his Spider-Man costume underneath.

On the street ZAP-FLASH! A pumpkin bomb exploded in a brilliant orange flash, so

bright and searing it turned everything into an X-ray image for a split-second, showing us the skeletons of the Cops grouped around it. When the flash fades-

"I CAN'T SEE!" Cops yelled and screamed.

The other Cops started shouting too, they had all suffered the same fate, they were completely blind!

On the reviewing stand, Reiko and Harry threw their hands to their faces, shouted in surprise and alarm, they too were unable to see.

High up above them, The Goblin looked down joyfully as the other bombs went off, one

after the other, like a circle of flashbulbs popping off all around Columbus Circle.

Miko shuddered and her barriers faded and went out. She swayed as her disguise shimmered, threatening to reveal her secret identity. Her eyes were totally silver, immune to the bombs.

Finally the disguise failed and her body faded and appeared next to Reiko and Harry, using the last of her power to force an arrow into the ground and keep the stand from collapsing.

"Kuri?" Reiko recognized her energy in the air.

"Yes!" Kuri yelled.

It was chaos. The bombs have blown out two of the supports of the reviewing stand, and it lurched off to one side, swaying. People screamed and scrambled.

In mid-air, Over the wails of anguish rising up from the street below, the Green Goblin spun his Glider around and plummeted straight toward the reviewing stand, the nose of the Glider pointed right at—Harry Osborn!

Kuri steeled herself and pointed the last thing she had—a wooden arrow with no magic—at the goblin.

The Goblin hit a switch on the center console of the Glider. On the nose, a sharp-pointed spear rotates into place.

Harry looked up in horror.

The Goblin flicked a switch, cackling wildly—The spear rocketed out of the Glider, flew straight toward Harry, and—THWIP!

A single web strand shoots gracefully out of nowhere, intercepted the spear just inches from Harry's chest, and flipped it away.

In mid-air The Goblin looked up, amazed. Now- THWIP-THWIP-THWIP!- a torrent of

web strands curled around the engine of his Glider, yanking it down to street level and binding it to a cement post.

On the street, Goblin and Glider were yanked to an abrupt halt. Enraged, the Goblin looked around for whoever dared to thwart his plans.

As panic and mayhem engulfed the streets around them, Spider-Man descended calmly from a lightpost behind the Goblin, hanging upside-down from a web.

"Hey." Spider-Man said.

The Goblin whirled around, furious.

"I wear the tights in this town." Spider-Man said.

POW! Spider-Man uncorked a powerful punch that sent the Goblin sailing back across the street, legs still straddling his Glider.

He smacked into a wall.

Above them, rivets cracked and popped out of the reviewing stand as it began to

collapse. Kuri, Reiko and Harry still stood in the middle of the swaying stand, like skaters on thin ice.

"Oh, no..." Kuri said and fainted.

In the street, The Goblin recovered himself, spun upright on his Glider, and shouted at Spider-Man.

"Get out of my way or I'll destroy you!" The Goblin said.

"Get out of my way or I'll destroy you, please." Spider Man said.

The Goblin whipped a boomerang out of his Goblin bag and sliced the web strand that bound the Glider. He hit the acceleration and the Glider rocketed forward, straight at Spider-Man.

The web-slinger leapt at the last second and landed on the side of a building, three floors up.

Down below,The Goblin was going too fast to stop, and sailed right through the open door of an office building.

The Goblin Glider blasted through the building at top speed, smashed through a window on the other side of the lobby—comes out of the opposite street, looped up, over the intervening buildings—and plummets down again, straight toward Spider-Man, who was still on the side of the building.

Spidey flattened himself against the building, the Glider scraped past, Spidey released his grip, and he landed square on top of the Goblin's shoulders, legs straddling him.

The Goblin screamed and lost control of the Glider. It rocketed down the street, spinning over and over.

The Goblin finally regained control.

"I'm warning you, Spider-Man! I'm no purse snatcher or chain-grabber! I am like you! I am more than you!" The Goblin said.

The Goblin threw a furious punch that sends Spider-Man flying off the Glider. Spidey sailed through the air—and smacked neatly up against the side of a glass building, splay-legged.

On the reviewing stand, Harry and Reiko were part of the crowd that's madly climbing across the swaying bleachers, trying like hell to get off them.

A huge support beam cracked and falls, smashing through the bleachers between them.

Kuri stood shakily, saw the beam fall before it did—and pushed Reiko out of the way, getting pinned underneath.

Harry heard Reiko scream, but he claws at his eyes, he couldn't see her to help her!

"Reiko?!" Harry said.

"I'm alright!" Reiko came to him. "We have to help Kuri!"

On the side of the building, Spider-Man pivoted as the Goblin, above, circled around for another pass. Behind the Goblin, he sees something even more terrifying—Kuri, trapped inside the collapsing reviewing stand, Harry and Reiko trying to reach her.

"Kuri!" Spider-Man said.

The Glider came in, low and hard, straight at Spider-Man, who shot a web onto the building across the street. At the last second, he leaps out of the way, swinging out into the air.

On the Glider, The Goblin pulled out a boomerang and hurled it.

In Mid-Air, The boomerang zipped through the air and sliced across Spidey's hand!

Spider-Man shouted in pain as the boomerang made a long, jagged cut right across his palm, severing his webbing in the process.

On the Glider, The Goblin sees the cut and shrieked with glee as the boomerang

doubled back toward him.

In mid-air, Spider-Man fell, straight down, plummeting toward the pavement.

On the glider, The Goblin caught his boomerang, saw the blood glistening on its edge, and watched Spider-Man fall.

In mid-air, Just two floors from becoming a smashed spider, Spider-Man reached out and grabs hold of a flagpole that jut out from the side of a building. His grip was strong, he flipped around it twice, released, sailed through the air, and landed—on a rooftop, hard. Spider-Man rolled over, groaning, in terrible pain, clutching a badly wrenched ankle.

On the reviewing stand, Boards are falling, the whole rickety thing was about to go,

everyone was climbing crazily to get off it, but nobody was helping Kuri, who was trapped in the middle of it all, her leg pinned under the beam.

Harry was straining to reach her, but he can't quite get to her with his outstretched hand. A beam falls, smashed through the wood next to him, splintering it. Rivets rocketed off in all directions like crossfire.

Frightened, Harry pulled back.

"I'll get help!" Harry said.

"No! We can't leave my sister here!" Reiko said.

Harry hesitates, torn- turned and climbed away, off the bleachers.

"HARRY!" Reiko growled at him and gave chase.

In the air, The helicopters that were covering the parade had noticed the reviewing stand and were racing over toward the scaffolding.

On the reviewing stand A huge beam groaned ten feet over Kuri, at a forty-five degree

angle. It was going to fall, the question is, would she be there when it does?

Kuri tested her powers, trying to escape, put they had deserted her.

She pulled harder, trying to wrench her leg out from under the beam.

Below, on the rooftop, Spider-Man leapt to his feet, saw Kuri above him. He ran, hurled

himself off the side of the building, and landed on the scaffolding, about thirty or forty feet beneath her. He started to climb toward her, straight up.

Up above him, Kuri saw the helicopters coming.

"Thank God! Help me!" Kuri said, putting on the innocent civilian act.

The helicopters arrived, the doors opened—and they pointed their cameras at her. Some help!

From below, Spider-Man was approaching.

"HANG ON!" Spider-Man said.

She looked up. The groaning beam shuddered, began to fall.

Spider-Man hurled himself the last few feet, landed in the middle of the wreckage, standing right over Kuri.

The beam fell—and he catches it, holding it aloft with one hand, a display of incredible strength.

He reached down with the other hand, grit his teeth, and lifted the beam that was pinning Kuri in place.

She dragged herself free, Spider-Man bellowed with effort as he hurled the beam away from them—and the bleachers finally collapse, beams falling straight toward them, no way he'd be able to stop these.

He grabbed Kuri with one arm, bent his legs, and leapt! It was anincredible jump, three stories, straight up into the air—and at the apex of his jump, he shot out a web, it catches on the side of a building, and he swung away as the scaffolding imploded in a would—have-been deadly rumble of wood and metal.

Kuri looked at Spidey, wide-eyed, thrilled.

"I-I knew you'd come..." Kuri said.

Spider-Man looked at her. She looked somehow different, weaker, though it may just have been the trauma. He couldn't be sure.

In the street, Harry Osborn and Reiko, who were racing across the street with two firemen, stopped in their tracks, watched Kuri and Spider-Man swinging away, out over the city.

A swarm of people race around Harry and Reiko, they were buffeted by the crowd.

On a rooftop, The Goblin landed his Glider and hops off. He went to the edge and looked down- in the swarming crowd, he would never find Harry again.

He looked up, saw Spider-Man flying away, across the city. The Goblin's face set in a horrible, determined grimace.

"I may not be able to kill you, Spider-Man... but if it's the last thing I do, I'll make you wish you were dead!" Goblin said.


	13. Little Bit Of Love

On a rooftop far away, Spider-Man came in for a landing, set Kuri. down gently.

"This is where you get off." Spider-Man said.

"Promise?" Kuri said.

He turns to go, but she held onto him.

"You're bleeding!" Kuri said.

She pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around his hand, where the boomerang slashed him.

"Does that hurt?" Kuri said.

He shook his head, in heaven, thrilling to her touch. She moved her hand around on his arm, feeling him.

"Wow." Kuri said.

She slid her other hand lightly over his chest.

"You are built." Kuri said, pretending she didn't know that already. Pretending she didn't always have her magical eyes on him.

"I... got to go..." Spider-Man said.

He leapt up onto the side of the building, doing a mid-air flip so he was clinging to the wall upside-down, right above her head.

"Hey! Don't I get to say thank you this time?" Kuri said.

She stretched up, on her tiptoes, and leaned in close to him. She kissed him, open-mouthed, brushing her lips along the outside of his mask. He nearly swooned, leaned in for more, giving her a long kiss.

"I really gotta go." Spider-Man said.

But he didn't move. She whispered, close and breathy.

"How come? Got a Mrs. Spider-Man waiting somewhere?" Kuri said.

He pivoted and took off, disappearing over the edge of the building. Kuri rushed forward and watched him swing away into the city. She was breathless.

"Amazing." Kuri grinned.


	14. Tension

Harry's Apartment

A door opened and Harry Osborn looked surprised.

"Dad! You're early."

Norman Osborn took a few proprietary steps into the apartment. He was sweating.

"Happy Thanksgiving to you too." Norman said.

"You're not going to believe what happened at the parade! Reiko and I were almost..." Harry tried.

"I know. I heard all about it." Norman said.

He settle, onto the sofa next to Reiko, wiped the sweat from his

forehead with a handkerchief. He looked up at Harry, consumed with guilt.

"Are you... all right, son?" Norman said.

"I'm fine." Harry said, but Norman gave him a concerned look. "Really. Thanks for asking."

Reiko pouted. "I'm fine too. Thanks."

Norman ignored her. "Harry, I know I've... let you down. On occasion. In the past."

He glanced at Reiko in irritation, wished she wasn't there, but he had to get this off his chest.

"Let's just say... I didn't know what I was doing. And that it won't happen again." Norman said.

"Thanks, Dad." Harry said, wondering what was up. "Hey, why don't we have a Thanksgiving dinner? I didn't make anything, but the four of us could go out."

Norman was suddenly back to himself. "Can't today, working. But I'd be happy to pick up your check. Where's this new tenant of ours? I'm afraid I need to meet him and go."

"He's not a tenant. He goes to school with me. He's you know, an amigo." Harry said.

**Outside the Apartment Building**

WHOOSH! Harry's amigo, dressed as El Hombre Arana at the moment, landed on the side of his apartment building, injured. He pivoted awkwardly, favoring his injuries, and crawled down a few floors.

He found his window, slid it open, and crawled inside.

Peter's Bedroom

Peter pulled off his mask and dropped onto the floor in his bedroom.

He was bleeding from the cut on his hand and his ankle was killing

him.

Living Room

They heard a thud as he hit the floor.

"Speak of the devil." Norman said.

"That's weird, I didn't know he was here." Harry said

"Peter?" Worried about his injuries, Kuri got up and headed for his bedroom.

Peter's Bedroom

He whipped around and looked at the door, wild-eyed. He saw shadows

moving in the light under it, heard Kuri's voice calling to him.

He was still in his costume, mask off, holding a bundle of street

clothes.

Living Room

Kuri was nearly to the door. Norman and Harry were just behind her. She

turned the handle, opened it, and they all saw—nothing. The room was empty.

Norman leaned past her and glanced around the room. Kind of a mess,

clothes and books and science equipment scattered everywhere. But

no Peter.

Peter, in full costume but without his mask, clung to

the ceiling not two feet over their heads, clutching his bundle of

street clothes under his arm. He looked at his right hand. A big,

fat drop of blood was oozing out from the cut, right over Osborn's

head. Peter bit his lip.

"Tell him we don't have maid service." Norman said.

The drop of blood fell—and Norman turned to walk out. The drop hit the light-colored

carpet, right where he was standing. Norman, the last in the

doorway, froze, tilted his head at the sound. Good hearing, man.

The other two left, but Norman turned and walked back to where he

was standing.

On the ceiling, Spidey's eyes widened - oh no. Norman was directly

below him.

Norman bent down, studied the carpet. He saw the drop of blood.

Quickly, he looked up at the ceiling above him.

There was nobody there.

He turned, looked at the open window. He walked to it.

From outside the window, Spider-Man, clinging to the side of the building, curled

over the window as Norman came, leaned outside, and looked in both

directions.

Apparently satisfied, he turned and went back inside. Spidey breathed a sigh of relief.


	15. Evading

The front door to Harry's apartment opened again. Peter attempted a casual entry, now dressed in street clothes.

"Did you see it? Did you see what happened? Man, I hope I got a decent picture!" Peter said.

"Pete, there you are. This is my father, Norman Osborn." Harry said.

"Oh! Pleasure to meet you, sir." Peter said.

Kuri smiled a knowing smile.

"Likewise." Norman said.

Osborn stepped forward. Forgetting, Peter extended his right hand, the one with the cut, which had been hastily wrapped up. Osborn took it and squeezed, Peter gasped.

"Sorry... hurt your hand?" Norman said.

Still holding Peter's hand, he pulled it into view.

"Broken glass. Landed on it." Peter said.

"You landed on it?" Reiko said.

"Yeah. I'm an idiot. I was trying to get a picture of that thing in the sky and I stepped right out in front of a taxi. Must have knocked me twenty feet." Peter said.

"Better have me take a look at it." Norman said.

Osborn unwrapped the handkerchief, took it off Peter's hand, revealing the jagged cut made by the Goblin's boomerang.

Osborn's eyes widened, he looked directly into Peter's eyes.

"You've got to be more careful in the streets. This city's full of lunatics." Norman said.

Peter nodded, uneasy. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. Spider sense going off like crazy. Peter furrowed his brow, rubbed the back of his neck. Couldn't figure it out.

"Just a... few cuts and scrapes. I'll be fine." Peter said.

Avoiding Osborn's gaze, he limped over to the couch, where Kuri helped him to sit down, concerned. Osborn watches him as he walked, studying the limp. Thinking. Always thinking.

Peter sat, noticing Osborn's glare. What's going on here?

While Harry and Reiko started peppering Peter with questions, Osborn just stared at him, long and hard. He looked down, at the bloody handkerchief that wrapped Peter's hand, which he still held. He slipped it into his pocket.

Kuri clutched Peter's hand.

"I really should be going. Harry?" Norman nodded toward the hallway, for Harry to join him.

In the hallway, Osborn left the apartment, followed by Harry. Osborn pulled the door nearly shut behind him. But not all the way shut.

"A word to the not-so-wise. That little tart will be gone at the first sign of trouble and she'll take half your trust fund with her." Norman said.

"Don't talk about Reiko like that." Harry said.

"I wasn't talking about Reiko." Norman said. "That other girl, she's cheap and dangerous."

"But-" Harry said.

"I'm not finished." Norman said.

"Oh, I think you are." Peter was standing in the doorway, his eyes filled with fury.

A short pause.

"I'll be going then." Norman said, and then left.

Kuri was at Peter's side, pulling his body, trembling with fury, into her arms. "It's alright Peter. Thank you."


	16. Blood Type

At home, in his dressing room, Norman Osborn pulled Peter's bloodied handkerchief from his pocket, looked at it.

He raised his other hand. He was holding the Goblin's boomerang, its serrated edge red with crusty blood. Spider-Man's blood.

A piece of paper with the bold words LAB REPORT at the top made its way across the expensive rug in Norman Osborn's office at OsCorp, clutched in the hand of an AIDE.

The paper slid across the desk, to Norman, who pulled it around and studied it as the Aide scurried out of the room.

His eyes skimmed down the page, past the words "BLOOD MATCH TEST RESULT," all the way down to a single word, boxed in red at the bottom of the page: POSITIVE.

Norman Osborn smiled.

"Peter Parker..."

Xxx

Kuri, alone and forlorn, stared out the open window of her crappy apartment, letting in the blasts of cold air and fresh-falling snow. She looked out the window longingly, staring at the city, searching its rooftops for:

"...Spider-Man!"


	17. Say Your Prayers

Back in Peter's boyhood home, Aunt May was in her flannel nightgown, getting ready for bed. She turned the bed down carefully, smoothed the pillow.

She walked to her bathroom past a window. The drapes were still open. She filled a glass of water, carried it past the window again, and brought it to the night table.

She set it down on the night table, next to a raft of prescription pill bottles.

She turned, her back to the window, and knelt down next to the bed. Her knees creaked, it was painful for her, she folded her hands and closed her eyes in prayer.

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name." Aunt May said.

Behind her, the drapes were still open. Out the window, a tiny speck appeared on the horizon. But that speck was approaching. Aunt May was kneeling with her back turned, she had no idea.

"Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." Aunt May said.

The speck got larger fast, it was the Green Goblin, on his glider, headed right toward the window, but just before he was about to smash right through the window he stopped, abruptly, staring inside.

"Give us this day our daily bread..." Aunt May said.

The Goblin tilted his head, as if listening to her strange murmuring. As his helmet tilted, cocking off to the side like the RCA Dog.

"...and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but..." Aunt May said.

With an incomprehensible burst of acceleration, the Goblin hit the gas and the glider rocketed forward, exploding through the window, sending shattering glass flying in all directions.

Aunt May spun around, horrified, and fell to the floor, on her

back. The Goblin hovered over her terror-stricken face. The room slowly filled with green vapor and the low, horrible buzz of the glider's engine.

"... but... but... but..." Aunt May said.

Aunt May paled, her eyes popped wide, staring up into the inhuman, yellow eyes of the Goblin's helmet, now just twelve inches separated her from those eyes.

"FINISH IT! FINISH IT!" Goblin said.

Her hands clutched her chest, she gasped: "...DELIVER US FROM EVIL!"

Her body arched, tensed, then went limp. Her eyes closed.

"Amen." Goblin said piously.

On the walls of the bedroom, Green spray paint sprayed a hideous message over Aunt May's pastel flowered wallpaper: "CRAWL AWAY, SPIDER!"


	18. Horrible Yellow Eyes

Harry stared Peter down for a long moment. The phone was ringing.

"Hello. Yeah? What?" Harry said.

There was a long pause, then he turned to Peter, his face ashen.

"Someone broke into your Aunt May's house. She... Pete, she's..." Harry said.

Before he could finish his sentence-BANG! The front door of the apartment building flew open and Peter raced outside to the curb, looking for a cab.

Peter ran right out into traffic, desperate. It was morning rush

hour, traffic was bumper to bumper, even if he could find a cab it wouldn't be able to move.

Peter pounded the hood of a car in frustration, the driver shouted out the window, horns honked, chaos. Peter took off, down a side street.

Peter ducked into an alley and turned to his alternative mode of transportation. Still in his street clothes, he hurled himself at the side of a building and began to climb, shrugging off the pain from his injured ankle.

Gaining the building's rooftop, Peter slung out a web and took off across the city, not even bothering to strip down to his Spidey suit.

Xxx

Peter raced down a hospital corridor, checking room numbers. He reached the last one on the right, ducked inside, and saw Aunt May, semi-conscious in a hospital bed. Two nurses were at work on her, and she looked rough. The Nurses looked up, see Peter and nodded to him to come over.

Peter came up to the bed, took Aunt May's frail, papery hand.

She turned her head, saw him through milky blue eyes. Peter's own eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry... I should have been there with you... I should have been there..."

"Those eyes... the devil's eyes..." May said.

"Whose eyes? Who was it?" Peter said.

"...horrible yellow eyes!" May said.

With a frightened shudder at the memory, Aunt May rolled over and lapsed back into unconsciousness.

Peter's own eyes popped open. Oh, God. Surely she didn't mean...


	19. Circling

In the Osborn mansion, just off Park, a figure trudged up the steps, head hung low.

Harry Osborn tiptoed up the stairs of the townhouse. He walked toward the end of a long, long dark hallway, where a light was on.

From the room at the end of the hall, he heard an angry muttering, but he couldn't make out any of the words.

"Dad?" Harry said.

Norman Osborn, dressed in normal clothes, stepped into the hallway, startled. They talked, from this great distance. Osborn was just a dark shadow.

"Reiko says Kuri is in love with Peter." Harry laughed, a hollow sound. "He finally gets the girl; and I can't seem to make my relationships work."

"Peter... Parker?" Norman said.

He took a few steps forward, closer in this long hallway.

"And does he... love her as well?" Norman said.

"Are you kidding? He tries to deny it, but he's been in love with her since he was twelve years old." Harry said.

"Reeeeeally. What a... tangled web." Norman said.

Harry covered his face with one hand, to cover his shame, to hide the fact that he had begun to sob.

"I'm sorry. You must think I'm so weak. Oh God, Dad, you hate me...I know you hate me." Harry said.

"Harry... no, Harry, you mustn't say that, you mustn't ever say that. Whatever's happened with us in the past, it doesn't matter. I love you. I love you and I'll do anything I can to help you." Norman said.

Finally, he stepped into a pool of light right in front of his son.

"What kind of dad do you think I am?" Norman said sincerely.


	20. Flames

**Hospital Room**

Late at night. Dark. Peter sat a lonely vigil next to Aunt May's

bed, in and out of consciousness. He heard a soft tapping from the door behind him. He turned.

Kuri stood in the doorway, holding a bouquet of flowers. Peter looked at her, then looked away, back at his Aunt.

Kuri came in, sat the flowers down. She bent over, put her

arms around Peter's neck, gave him a hug. He closed his eyes, almost couldnt't bear it. They spoke in hushed whispers.

"Will she be okay?" Kuri said.

"Maybe. Maybe not." Peter said.

Words flowed out of him, almost against his will. They spoke in hushed whispers.

"No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, the people I love are always... the ones who pay." Peter said.

"I been there. I know it feels like your fault. I thought it was my fault when my Grams died, but it wasn't. You're good to her. That's all you can be. You're good to everyone, Peter." Kuri said.

She gave him a kiss on the cheek, a soft, lingering one.

He turned and kissed her on the lips.

They met each other's eyes.

Kuri and Peter.

Miko and Spider-Man.

The only one knowing the truth was Kuri, as her eyes brimmed over with tears.

She was really studying him, staring into his eyes. Was there a flash of something else there?

"Something's... different." Kuri said.

She leaned closer, thinking, trying to place that look she'd seen before. Peter's face turned to steel, like a cell door closing.

"Keep away from me. People I love get hurt. That's how it works." Peter said.

He turned and hurries off down the hospital corridor, leaving a very puzzled Kuri behind.

**Parker Living Room**

Peter was standing in the living room of the Parker house where he had built a raging fire in the fireplace.

He was clutching his costume, bunched up in his right hand, staring down at it, tears streaking his cheeks.

He looked up, at the mantle, at a picture of himself, with Uncle Ben and Aunt May, taken a couple years ago.

He stared, he clutches his costume, his hand shook with the

agony, the indecision, the choice.

He hurled his costume into the fire.

The flames roared, the orange tongues licking up, consuming it, the sheer fabric curling up and melting, the stenciled spider outline warping and dripping down into the flames.

Peter leaned against the mantle, in unendurable pain.

**Outside**

Out in front of the Parker house, a dark figure in an overcoat stood in the shadows, just outside the arc of light thrown by a streetlamp.

The Dark Figure stared into the living room of the Parker house, its drapes wide open. The Figure watched Peter, still leaning against the mantle, the fire burning brightly in the fireplace.

The Figure waited, put a cigarette in its mouth, and clinked open a Zippo lighter He swatted a mosquito and unscrewed the lightbulb in the streetlight. All at once.

Guess who.


	21. Overtaking

In a guest bathroom in Norman's townhouse, Harry Osborn looked up from having just splashed water on his face. He looked into the mirror, water dripping from his features and in his opulent bathroom, Norman Osborn was also staring at his recently splashed face. He reached for a towel, covered his face to dry it, pulled the towel away—and the Green Goblin stared back at him!

Osborn shouted in terror, but stood frozen in front of the mirror.

He watched in horror as the Goblin face, again, tore free of his own, this time not just appearing in the mirror next to his own face, but floating right out of the mirror, to stare Norman down, eye to eye.

Osborn stood there, quivering, eye to menacing eye with his alter ego. There was a knock on the door.

"Dad? Are you okay?" Harry said.

"Be... right down... son." Norman said, barely maintaining.

Harry's footsteps were heard as he left. Osborn turned back to face the Goblin.

"Those ungrateful brats!" Goblin said.

"Go away!" Osborn said.

"Did they think they could treat an Osborn this way? Did they dream there would not be hell to pay?" Goblin said.

"Leave my son alone!" Osborn said.

"Not just the idiot son, Osborn...the harlot as well... the interloper... All three of them...They must be dispatched. From a great height...". Goblin said.

Osborn suddenly clutched his head, in horrible agony, trying

desperately to maintain sanity.

"I am Norman Osborn, I am Norman Osborn, I am Norman Osborn..." Osborn said.

"Norman is weak... Norman's a waste..." Goblin said.

Osborn dropped to his knees, hands to his skull.

"...AND I'M IN HIS PLACE!" Goblin shouted.


	22. Ghost

It was Central Park on a cold day. Peter sat on a park bench, overcoat pulled up against the snow. A figure walked past him, turned, sat.

A moment went by. Peter had a strange feeling. He turned, looked at the person who just sat down next to him.

It was Uncle Ben!

Peter gasped and made some inarticulate sounds. Uncle Ben flashed an enigmatic smile.

"You..." Peter said.

"Relax, kiddo." Ben said.

"This isn't possible..." Peter said.

"It's a dream, Pete. You're still back at home. You fell asleep on the sofa, it's about seven in the morning. You're gonna wake up in a few minutes." Ben said.

Peter just stared, stunned for a long moment, absorbing this

information. And then, he launched himself across the bench, grabbing his uncle and hugging him as tightly as he could.

Uncle Ben laughed, taken pleasantly by surprise.

"Woah, woah..." Ben said.

"Uncle Ben... Oh God, I'm sorry, I'm so sor-" Peter said.

"Hey." Ben said.

He pulled back, sharply, put his hands on Peter's shoulders.

"Don't apologize to me. My life was my own; the day I was born I was a book that was already written, and my story ended how it was always meant to end. But you, here, now, today... you're a work in progress." Ben said.

"There's so much I want to ask you, so much I want to tell you..." Peter said.

"I've only got a minute or two, before the doorbell wakes you up." Ben said.

"I love her, Uncle Ben." Peter said.

"I know you do." Ben said.

"All I'd have to do is tell her, tell her who I really am, and she'd-" Peter said.

"Be pretty easy, huh?" Ben said.

"Sure would." Peter said.

"So why don't you tell her?" Ben said.

"Because she wouldn't be safe a single minute for the rest of her life." Peter said.

"Is that why?" Ben said.

Ben looked at him, knew there was more.

"Partly." Peter said.

"She needs to love you, Pete. Not the guy in the mask. But burning that mask isn't the way to protect her, or yourself. You can't deny who you are, buddy." Ben said.

"Who I am? Because of who I am, you were killed. Aunt May almost- who's next? How can I be sure no one else will get hurt?" Peter said.

"You can't. It's called life. You can't bet on it, you can't manage it or control it, all you can do is lead the one you were meant to live." Ben said.

A faint buzzing sound started in the distance. Uncle Ben turned his head at the sound, looked back at Peter.

"Kiddo, the one thing you gotta know, the only thing you gotta know, is who you are. The rest is just noise." Ben said.

The buzzing came again, more insistent. Peter turned, looked for it. Next to the park bench, he saw the front door of Aunt May's house, standing right out here on the grass in Central Park, with just a frame around it. A man stood outside the door, ringing the bell, visible through a skinny glass window in the door frame.

Peter turned, confused, looked back at Uncle Ben, but he's gone, and Peter was alone on the bench again. The buzzing came once again, Peter turned back to look at-

Xxx

-the front door of Aunt May's house, in reality, a man standing outside it, ringing the bell, visible through the skinny glass window beside the door.

Peter sat up, groggy, still fully dressed, same clothes as last

night. He went to the front door, opened it. A man in a black suit stood in front.

"Peter Parker?" Man said.

"Yes?" Peter said.

Wordlessly, the Man in the Black Suit handed Peter a creamy white envelope, then turned and walked away.

Peter looked down at the envelope, curious. He opened it, his eyes scanned the page, the typed letters dissolve into the image, backwards red letters that spelled OSCORP.

NEW CHAPTER

The early morning was thick with fog. High above OsCorp Plaza, on top of the towering black OsCorp Building, behind its red neon sign. Down below, three solitary figures were approaching the middle of the plaza from three different directions. The plaza and the building were deserted at this hour.

Down on the ground, Peter, walking toward the plaza, recognized one of the people coming toward him.

It was Kuri.

Peter looked to his left, recognized the other person.

It was Harry.

They met one another in the middle of the plaza.

"Well? What do you want?" Harry said.

"Me? She sent me a-" Peter said.

"Harry, you're the one who-" Reiko said, coming up.

"We're in trouble." Kuri said.

She stopped herself and the three of them stared at one another in confusion. But they weren't looking at each other for long before they heard something, something whistling as it sailed through the air.

It landed with a clunk about twenty feet from them, whizzing out of the fog from above. It bounced twice, hard, rolls to a stop right in the middle of them. They all took a step back, away from—a pumpkin bomb.

"Oh, God..." Harry said.

They all leapt back as the bomb exploded.

Harry, Peter and Reiko each hit the ground with a crunch, stunned by the force of the bomb. Suddenly, the whistling sound came again.

Another pumpkin bomb dropped inexplicably out of the fog, landed to one side of them. They leapt to their feet and took off as the second bomb exploded behind them. They turned in another direction, but a third pumpkin bomb thunked to the ground in front of them.

They changed directions again, scampering away just before the third bomb exploded.

"This way!" Harry said.

Peter and Reiko followed him, racing toward the twin glass elevators that run up the side of the OsCorp Building. Harry whipped a set of keys from his pocket, fumbled to key the elevator.

Another bomb dropped behind them.

The doors whooshed open. Harry and Reiko raced into the elevator, but Peter stopped in the doorway, a look of terror on his face. He shot a hand to the back of his neck.

"Danger!" Peter said.

"What?!" Reiko said.

"The elevator! Don't go in it!" Peter said.

"Fine, stay down here and die!" Harry snapped.

He jabbed one of the two silver buttons, the one with a big arrow pointing up. Peter took a step back, the doors began to close.

"PETER!" Kuri said.

But the doors closed.

Behind Peter, another bomb exploded, hurling him to the ground.

On the other side of the wall, there was an odd-shaped object, located right at the base of elevator machinery, near the giant wheel that is running the elevator cables.

It was a bomb. Pumpkin shaped.

There was a chunk and the wheel started to turn, drawing in the cable. The elevator box began to rise.

In the ascending elevator, Kuri turned to the window, saw Peter stranded in the plaza below, amid the smoke of the explosions.

"PETER!" Kuri said.

Xxx

Peter stood in the plaza, watching as the elevator slowly rose.

Instinctively, his hands darted up to his shirt, pulled it open, he felt underneath for his costume.

But of course, it wasn't there. He burned it.

Peter turned, thought like crazy. In the distance, sirens started to sound, people started to emerge from the fog, having heard the explosions.

Peter looked around frantically. He sees something, his eyes light up.

Across the street, a sign in the window of a souvenir shop on Broadway said "HALLOWEEN COSTUMES HALF OFF."

He took off, across the street, and was nearly hit by a car, racing toward him.

The car stops, but Peter kept going.

Peter raced past a rack of Halloween costumes. There was a clown, a cowboy, Mr. Potato Head, Wolverine- ah hah! He yanked a Spider-Man costume off the rack. He tugged at the sleeves, checked out the crotch.

At the register, A twenty dollar bill landed on the counter. Peter stood in front of the clerk, now in the Spider-man costume.

"Can I wear it home?" SpiderMan said.


	23. Plummet

The glass elevator was still rising, up above the city, and up, and up, toward the roof of the building.

Reiko looked at Harry, who stared back at her.

Kuri's hands were pressed to the window.

"What the hell is going on between you two?" Harry asked.

"Please stop, Harry, this is serious!" Kuri said, wondering if she was going to have to blow her secret.

"NO!" Harry said. "Your keeping secrets. Peter's keeping secrets. Hell, even Reiko's keeping secrets!"

He reached out and pushed the STOP button. The elevator jerked to a halt, sixty floors above the street.

Xxx

Inside the elevator machinery, the big greasy wheel stopped turning, the cable stretches tight. Next to it, the red light on the pumpkin bomb continued to flash.

Xxx

Outside the glass elevator, looking in at Harry, Reiko, and Kuri, who were arguing. From off in the distance, there a high-pitched whining that's growing closer.

Harry, Reiko, and Kuri heard it and turned sharply.

The fog, thick as cake frosting, suddenly parted, billowing around the Green Goblin, atop his Glider! He banked, came to an impossible stop just outside the elevator.

Harry, Reiko and Kuri stared in shock and horror. The Goblin cackled, pulled a remote control device from his Goblin bag, and flipped up the cover. A red button flashed on its panel.

"Goodbye, children! Time to throw you from the nest!" Goblin said.

He pressed the button.

xxx

Inside the elevator machinery the flashing red light on the bomb went steady, it beeped-

The cable snapped, went whirling and snapping up the shaft like a wild snake.

Xxx

SNAP!

Through the glass wall, Harry, Reiko and Kuri could see right into the elevator shaft, where the severed cable raced past them, untethering the elevator.

They screamed-hunng there for a second like Wile E. Coyote-and then plummet.

The Goblin screeched with glee.


End file.
